Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates generally to the field of printed antenna and electronics, and more specifically to radiating antenna array and electronics integrated on a flexible substrate, and various applications of the same.
Background of the Invention
The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Recently, flexible antenna have become more attractive due to the development of several interesting flexible circuit components that can be integrated into one system on a light weight, conformal flexible platform. Since different communication tasks require different antenna technologies, a flexible antenna is important for several communication applications. Unlike the “printed antennas” fabricated on rigid printed circuit boards using etching processes, the printed antennas on flexible substrates may be fabricated using solution processing techniques, such as ink jet printing, screen printing, offset printing etc., and it is possible to wed flexible electronics manufacturing with antenna circuit design, in order to develop multifunctional, low-cost, light weight, easy-to-fabricate conformal antenna systems on flexible substrates such as metal films, plastics, paper, cardboard, cloth such as for clothing, etc. The printed antennas on flexible substrates are rollable, foldable, and light-weight, thus making them highly attractive for several applications.
A very important flexible antenna system, namely the phased-array antenna (PAA), is formed by combining the flexible antenna elements and electronics, such as transmit/receive (T/R) modules for controlling the system, onto a single flexible substrate. Phased-array antenna systems have many advantages over mechanically steered antenna arrays in terms of speed, sensitivity, and size. They are critical components for modern military and commercial radar and wireless communication systems.
A conventional way of fabricating flexible phased-array antennas is via fabricating discrete components, such as control chips, antenna elements, etc. separately, and then integrating the discrete components on a flexible substrate, such as a canvas. Although the dual purpose of conformality and functionality are achieved through this conventional method, the antenna assemblies consist of several discrete parts, which require separate fabrication and packaging processes, resulting in complex integration and increased cost. Additionally, with the conventional method it is not possible to integrate other electronic devices such as batteries, solar cells, RFID, memories, displays, etc. to provide additional functionalities. Therefore, what is needed in the art is a phased-array antenna system that provides conformality and functionality as well as integration with other electronic devices such as batteries, solar cells, RFID, memories, displays, etc. Additionally, such a system should also minimize fabrication complexity and lower the cost.